Suleman Khan Ghori went viral a few days ago when he revealed the work culture of Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI. Suleiman was part of xAI’s technical team and gave some fascinating tidbits about xAI, including Musk’s bet on a free Tesla Cybertruck for one employee. However, Suleman Khan has now announced his departure from the AI ​​startup.

On X, Suleman Khan Ghauri shared that he is leaving Musk’s AI startup. He wrote, “I have left XAI with nothing but love for my former team and colleagues!” He did not give any reason for his exit, which left users puzzled. Suleman’s podcast on the YouTube channel Relentless was uploaded on January 16, 2026.

What did Suleman Khan say about xAI on the podcast?

Khan discussed his experience at XAI in depth during the podcast, which spanned over 1 hour and 11 minutes. The former XAI employee discusses Elon Musk’s approach to the company and the tech billionaire’s relationship with his employees. The most prominent example was the bet for the Cybertruck – Elon Musk gave a free Tesla Cybertruck to an XAI employee for completing a task within 24 hours.

Apart from the bet, Suleman Khan also claimed that Musk wants his staff members to feel free to disagree with him when necessary. Khan said, “He (Elon Musk) usually throws out a line like wrong requirement or question or impossible… and he expects people to come back and say oh this is wrong it’s not possible… and if he doesn’t do that then he doesn’t hire them.”

Why did Suleiman Khan leave xAI?

While Khan has remained tight-lipped on his exit, his post has been flooded with comments, and most users ask the same question – was the podcast the reason for it?

xAI has not made any public comment on Suleiman Khan’s departure, but it may be possible that he went against company guidelines with the podcast. Khan hasn’t been shy about talking openly about his experience at XAI, but he may have crossed the line in some way or the other.

Suleman gave a deep insight into the plans for a digital version of the Tesla Optimus humanoid robot. “With Optimus, you’re taking any physical task that a human can do and allowing a robot to do it automatically… We’re doing the same thing with anything a human does digitally,” Suleiman said.

Suleiman acknowledged that XAI has not publicly disclosed how it plans to implement it, but he did provide some information that may have crossed the lines.

He revealed that xAI could use Tesla’s existing infrastructure and vehicles to power the digital Optimus. “(The rollout) will be slow at first and then very fast, basically the difference for us will be like that because the infrastructure is already built, or we can go to the Tesla network,” Khan said.